PRINCE PHILIP celebrated his 98th birthday on Monday, June 10, and likely marked the milestone occasion alongside his wife, our Queen. But before the couple married some 72 years ago, did Queen Elizabeth II ever date anyone else?

Prince Philip married Queen Elizabeth II in November 1947, when he was aged 26 and she was 21. The couple were together for five years before the Princess became Queen in February 1952. They went onto to have four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, as well as eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. The matriarh and patriarch of the royal family have been by one another’s side for so long that most royal fans cannot remember a time when they were not together. But is it possible Queen Elizabeth II dated someone else aside from Philip?

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Prince Philip marriage: Philip and Elizabeth on their honeymoon in Malta in 1947 (Image: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY)

Queen Elizabeth actually talked to Prince Philip for the first time in 1939 when she was just 13 years old during a Royal visit to the naval college in Dartmouth.

And author Philip Dampier says the young Elizabeth immediately developed feelings for the handsome prince.

The pair began writing to one other but, because his family had been exiled from Greece and had very little money, her family did not initially find him to be a suitable match.

According to author and social advocate Rhys Hoffman, Prince Philip was reportedly deemed “entirely unsuitable” for Queen Elizabeth because of his family and birthright as a born Prince of Greece and Denmark.